


Put Your Weariness to Rest

by ishie



Category: Big Bang Theory
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-16
Updated: 2009-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 03:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishie/pseuds/ishie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny's never been accused of being a genius but what they're saying is blunt enough that she gets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put Your Weariness to Rest

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "The world's going to end, there's no way around it. Penny acts on a long-suppressed urge" on the sheldon_penny [December kinkmeme](http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/767139.html) (there are two other FAR MORE FABULOUS fics in reply to [this prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/767139.html?thread=16266403#t16266403) which you should read immediately). But this is not actually kinky, so, yeah. Title is, pretentiously enough, from the translation of Dante's _Purgatorio_ sitting in the next room.

Penny's never been accused of being a genius but what they're saying is blunt enough that she gets it.

"It's actually happening? There's nothing else you can do?"

Leonard nods, his face scrunched up like he's holding back tears. Raj and Howard don't do anything at all.

Sheldon gives her a look she can't decipher. His mouth tightens until his lips all but disappear. Two seconds later, he's gone. The door closing sounds like the period at the end of a sentence, melting into the background.

For some reason that's what makes her start to cry.

\---

She expects that Howard will try to feel her out about an I'm- _practically_ -the-last-man-on-Earth fuck.

Maybe Raj will drown his sorrows in whatever bottles they can find and lay a heavy hand on her thigh.

She knows that before too long, Leonard will knock on her door and swoop in for a kiss, followed by we-still-have-each-other-even-though-we're-broken-up sex, followed by (or including) crying and feelings and pretending it's not a mistake.

\---

Penny goes up to the roof to call home. When no one answers she leaves a message, her throat almost closing up before she can get the words out.

She doesn't know how long she sits there with her back pressed against the giant planter everyone uses as an ashtray. Her arms are propped on her knees, the phone in one hand even though she knows it won't ring. It's peaceful, the sky still blue and clear though it won't last much longer.

Penny tips her head back, raising her face to the sun.

The stairwell door opens with a groan and clangs shut again. A shadow falls over her and she speaks without opening her eyes.

"I thought you'd be Leonard."

Sheldon snorts, the sound filled with every bit of the bitterness and anger that has clung to him for weeks. "I'm surprised he didn't already-"

Penny stops him with an upraised hand. "Don't. Just, not today, Sheldon. Please."

When he doesn't say anything else, she looks up. He has an incredibly ugly sweater on over his normal clothes. He looks like he's drowning in it.

He sticks his hand out, wiggling his fingers when she doesn't do anything but stare.

"C'mon," he says, impatient. "I want to show you something."

\---

He unlocks his door and ushers her inside. She balks, thinking Leonard is lurking inside. Sheldon puts his hand on her back and pushes.

"He said he wanted to see the ocean one last time."

Penny can't pretend it doesn't hurt, that with so little time left he didn't say goodbye. She hopes he plans to come back.

Sheldon disappears down the hallway; she catches up just outside his room. There's a new lock on the door, a shiny silver padlock with a red dial, the kind she had on her locker in school.

He twirls the dial, not even pretending to block her view; Penny has to blink back tears when she recognizes the combination. He never celebrates birthdays unless he's forced to, and she's surprised to see he knows the year she was born.

His free hand is warm and dry when she slides hers into it. He pulls the lock open and looks over his shoulder. The flinty stare melts for an instant, then snaps back into place as he tugs her inside.

\---

"Why aren't you using this?" she shrieks, throwing the laminated card at his head. She wishes it were a brick. Maybe that would knock some goddamn sense into him.

Sheldon bends to pick up the card and puts it back in his dresser drawer. "It doesn't fit in my wallet. I would have had to cancel my museum membership."

She hisses through tears that won't stop, "What the fuck is _wrong_ with you? Sheldon, if you can save yourself-"

His face is pale, a scattering of freckles standing out against his skin. "They wouldn't let me bring you."

Penny wants to strangle him until he agrees to take the offer.

Instead, she wraps her arms around him and whispers, "You're an idiot."

\---

Penny can't remember when she figured out what the weight of his gaze meant, why he counted down the days until she and Leonard gave up.

She didn't expect that she would be the one to go to him as the world crashed down around them. That she would pull him down to the bed and make them both forget how few tomorrows remain.

She didn't expect a lot of things. She's glad they still have time to make this one right.


End file.
